Dutchmen look for fast finish
SCHENECTADY — With 22 games on the ECAC schedule each season, every game and the three standings points at stake are precious, whether the game is held in October or in midfebruary.
However, with the standings taking shape and first-round playoff position up in the air, Union is preparing to welcome Yale to Messa Rink on Friday before facing Brown on Saturday afternoon as the remaining games in the regular season get bigger each week.
The Dutchmen enter the weekend tied in the standings with RPI for eighth in the 12team ECAC, with the top four teams earning first-round byes and the teams finishing fifth through eighth earning the right to host a first-round winnertake-all game.
Beginning this season, the ECAC reduced the first-round series from a best-of-three to a single game.
“Each game we play, the intensity picks up and the importance picks up so for us, we’re in playoff mode and I think we realize that if we want to play a home playoff game, we need to be ready to go,” Union coach Josh Hauge said.
With the playoffs looming, Hauge has his sights set on Friday’s game with Yale with an eye on the standings and six games left in the regular season.
“We’re focusing on Friday right now. We’ve got to try to find a way to win Friday and then regroup and find a way to win Saturday,” Hauge said. “For us, we’re going to have to play .500 hockey if we want to host a playoff game so that for us is the bare minimum.”
Union (11-15-2, 5-10-1) has won eight of 12 games this season at home and struggled on the road at 2-11-2 (with one neutral-site game), including a 10-1 loss at Cornell last Saturday, so gaining home ice could be crucial.
“Ideally, we’re going to play some really good teams here so we’ve got to be ready to play every single one of them,” Hauge said. “We don’t set a certain number on what we’re trying to win, we’re just focusing on Friday. You get your result and you focus in on Saturday. We want to get on a little run. We feel like we’ve been playing pretty good hockey. We had a bump in the road Saturday so it is time to get rolling here again on Friday.”
Just four standings points separate Union and RPI (17 points each) and last-place Dartmouth with 13 points.
Union travels to Dartmouth next weekend, giving the Dutchmen three chances to earn standings points while denying those points to a team currently behind them in the standings.
“Obviously, we’re starting to realize these games, they are all important but these ones in particular are extremely important for us in terms of playoff
standings,” senior goaltender Connor Murphy said. “We want to take everything game to game and focus on the next one, but we realize this is starting to get down to the wire and pick up as many points as we can.”
RPI coming off split
The Engineers are coming off a weekend split, dropping a 3-1 decision at Cornell before rebounding last Saturday with a 2-1 win at Colgate, RPI’S first win of the season away from Houston Field House in 13 tries.
RPI lost on the road at Yale and Brown in January by an aggregate score of 7-1 but is looking to reverse its fortunes with the Bears coming in Friday and the Bulldogs heading to Troy on Saturday for the Big Red Freakout game with the Engineers.